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You are here: Home / science / anatomy / Learning About Nutrition

Learning About Nutrition

October 9, 2011 by Maureen Spell 6 Comments

Last week we talked about digestion, so it was only natural to transition to talking about food.

mirrorexperiment 
First we talked about how our body is made up of 60% water. We discussed ways our bodies loose water and how important water is to every system in our bodies. Next each student was given a mirror. They had to breathe on the mirror. Why? To show that our breath has water vapor in it. We loose some of our water content just by breathing.

encyclopediahumanbody

I read about why we need water from the Usborne’s First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. We discussed how much water we should drink each day and reviewed the role of the kidneys in the body. Then we had a drink break! 🙂

plate 
Next we talked about food. The USDA does not have a food pyramid anymore. Instead they have a plate visual that shows what we should be eating each day. You can find out more at the Choose My Plate website.

plate2
Each student created their own plate visual. I kept this portion basic—just pointing out that we need more veggies than any other category of food.

foodgroupsorting1
From there we talked about the different types of food options that fall into each category. I got this awesome food groups printable from Montessori Print Shop. I love that I was able to download and print at midnight for my class the next day! 🙂

foodgroupsorting
After we discussed the foods in the chart, I placed the category labels  in their own square on the gym floor. Then I handed each student a small stack of food cards. My class then worked on sorting the food cards into the correct category. They were allowed to look at the chart as a reference when needed. This was a fantastic activity and led to many mini-discussions such as, “Why is flax seed in the oil category?” or “What is kefir and why is it good for you?”  I liked that this set used whole food pictures not pictures of pizza, hamburgers, sandwiches etc.  This led to less confusion as to what food group the items really belonged.

From there we discussed that each of these foods contain different types of vitamins and minerals that are needed to keep our bodies healthy. In order to stay in the best health possible, we need to eat a variety of foods from each of the different categories. We ended our time reading several pages from Why Do People Eat?

whydopeopleeat

 Weekly Take-Home Sheet Download

You can see what we’ve covered so far on the Human Body page. Linking up to Science Sunday too.

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Filed Under: anatomy, science Tagged With: anatomy

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Comments

  1. Melissa Taylor says

    October 10, 2011 at 8:01 am

    Oh, I'm totally linking to you next week when I post on nutrition games. Great stuff!!

    Reply
  2. Ticia says

    October 10, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    This is a great idea! I like your paper plate you did because the new food pyramid doesn't make sense to me.

    Reply
  3. Julie says

    October 10, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Wow! This is great. I'll be referring back here when I do a lesson with my kids on food. Thanks for the resources.

    Reply
  4. Melinda at Weiser Academy says

    October 10, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    Looks like lots of fun and a memorable way for kids to learn about nutrition.

    Reply
  5. Melissa Taylor says

    October 20, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    http://imaginationsoup.net/2011/10/food-and-nutrition-learning-ideas-for-kids/ linked to you today!

    Reply
  6. Stacey Lane says

    December 7, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    I did a little fun get everyone thinking about nutrition. I covered 10 fruits and vegetables with vanilla yogurt. I numbered them 1 to 10 and gave the kids a piece of a paper and had them try and guess what was on the plate. A cherry tomato looks a lot like a grape covered with yogurt. Oh and they could only use their eyes or noses to figure out what it was. After everyone had taken a guess, I then asked for volunteers on who would like to taste the covered item and tell what it was. I also did a center piece of not so common fruits and vegetables, yeah my kids thought a turnip was a really big radish, lead to some great discussions.

    Reply

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